I shouldn’t have come.Everything in me said go home before something bad happens.Something bad always happens to me.I can never go out and just have a good time.

“Come on, let’s grab a table,” Trish exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and pulled me through the hoards of mother’s that left their kids with god knows who, trying to find one of this men who haven’t seen their kids since their baby’s mama took them to court for not paying child support.God I hate people.Here I was in the middle of the most desperate of them.I shot a tense smile at Trish as I snatched my arm from her grasp.Go home Sky, go home.

Trish jumped into a booth just as a big sista was about to sit down.

“Sorry, taken” she said with a smile on her face.I stepped up and took a seat next to Trish.Big sista was dressed to the T.She wore an all black Armani suit with a pair of heels over 6 inches.Every hair was in place, and her make-up looked like Picasso had painted it.She was sharp, and by the look on her face she was also mad.

Two skinny girls walked up behind her. Neither had half the class of big sista. The one in the bright red and yellow tube top leaned over and whispered into big sista’s ear, which caused her to look at me with a long hard pause.

“Why don’t you sit down and have a drink?”I said as I returned the glance that all three were now shooting at me.

“Okay” said big sista as she slid into the booth opposite Trish.Her two flunkies attempted to scoot in, until both big sista and I focused those glances on them.Bright red and yellow tube top pushed bright yellow and red tube top into the sea of dancing idiots until they disappeared.

“I’ll go and get us some drinks.Rum and coke?” Trish asked.

“Make sure it’s Bacardi white, please.” I replied.

“And you?”

“She isn’t staying,”I said cutting off Big Sista.Trish shrugged her shoulders and disappeared into the crowd.Big sista told me what she wanted and I gave her instructions on how to get it.Then I told her I needed her i.d.She looked reluctant then pulled it out without making me ask twice.I liked her swagger, and returned it in kind by not looking at it.I nodded my head and big sista got up and left.For someone who never left the house I had a face that was to easy to recognize.

Trish came back and put my drink on the table.That was why I could chill with her.She just went with the flow. Never too many questions, and when something went down she wasn’t scared to swing.My nigga.

I grabbed my drink and took it down quick.Then I offered to go and get refills.Trish looked surprised, but didn’t say anything just nodded her head.I got up and tried to make my way to the bar.Then I spotted Travis.He saw me and pushed the skank shaking her ass in front of him out the way.She looked disgusted when she turned to see who had caught his attention.She looked at me, and her face dropped.I shook my head and she lowered her eyes and made a hasty get away.

“What is up?”Travis slurred through the gold teeth encasing his mouth.

“Two rum and cokes to my table please.”

“Anything else?’

“Yeah, stop calling my house after 11:00.I like you, but I really hate repeating myself.We clear.”

“Yes ma’am.” He said as he turned and walked away.His whispered bitch under his breath, but as long as he kept it under his breath, I’d let him keep his breath. I turned to walk back to the table when I noticed Trish’s sister had arrived with her 2 stooges.The booth was now full and I was not about to squeeze in, so I stood at the table until one of them had the sense to get up.

Lisa, Trish’s sister grabbed crony number ones hand and they went off dancing.Crony number two was at the table trying to cover her black eye.I said nothing as I sat down.I had met both cronies before, but they were never important enough to remember their names.Go home Sky, go home.

Travis came to the table carrying 4 little tumblers.He placed them all in front of me and began to bat his eyes.

“Come and check on me a couple times and I’ll call you when I’m leaving.”

“You the best” then he walked right back to the skank he was with earlier and she just smiled and started to shake her ass on him again.I shook my head with the same disgust she had shown me only moments earlier.I hadn’t had sex in 2 years and now I remembered why.I slid two tumblers to Trish and drank one of mine like it was a shot.My insides began to warm and my shoulders to relax.I picked up the second tumbler and took a small sip.Trish and Crony number two had been talking since I had come back to the table, but I couldn’t focus on their conversation because I just didn’t care.

“What would you do, Sky?”

“Huh”

“How would you get a man to stop hitting you?”

I laughed out loud.I mean real loud.It even caught Travis’ attention which allowed me to motion to him for another drink. I tried to control my laughter and it was made a lot easier when I saw the look on Trish’s face.I stopped my banter as I tried to figure out what I was reading on Trish.She looked serious and stern; I had never seen that look before.

“Come on, you’re great at giving advice.What would you do?”

“Do about what?” Lisa asked as she scooted in beside me.I turned and stared her dead in her face; she scooted out and told Trish to move.

“I don’t want your opinion I was asking Sky.What would you do?”I didn’t like the way Trish was pushing this on me.So I figured I’d break some of the promises I had made to her before we left my apartment.

“Okay first of all, one of the first things I tell a man when we meet is ‘If you ever hit me I’ll kill you’ and I mean it.Second, you have to be tired and then you have to be tired of being tired.And until you get there, there’s nothing else that can be done.”

“What would you do when you’re tired of being tired?”That was it.Trish was tired of being tired.The thing was I never knew she had a reason to be tired.I thought she and her boyfriend had a really great relationship.Her eyes pleading for a response made me mad.She’s a dummy.How could I have been so wrong?Well here comes a reality check.

I turned and looked at crony number 2.“Are you tired of being tired?”She shook her head yes.I grabbed crony number 2 and punched her in her unbruised eye.She jumped up, fist balled into knots.“I bet when he hits you, you fall into a fetal position.I can bring more harm to you than he ever could.So if you can fight me back, why can’t you fight him?”Lisa was now behind the booth warning crony number 2 that she didn’t want it with me.“Sit down.She’s a grown ass woman she doesn’t need you to tell her what to do.”I guess the beat down I had put on Lisa when we first meet still rang fresh in her mind.

“You’re my size.He’s too big.”She still had her fist in knots, but I knew she had no intention of swinging on me.She wanted me to tell her how to fix her pathetic life; she wanted me to be her savoir.

“Unclench your fist and have a seat.What is your name?”

“Samantha, but them call me Sam.”

“Well hypothetically, I would make my man a good dinner.Make sure I fixed all his favorites.I’d do nothing that made him mad, just be a good little girl.”I felt myself slipping back to all the scenarios I had played out in my head.“Then I’d run him a shower and tell him to get ready for a terrific night.While he was in the shower I would slip into something real sexy and wait for him to come out.I’d strap him to the bed and well then you could just imagine the possibilities.”I was staring blankly at my empty rum and coke.I picked up the class and tasted the watered down soda in my cup.I snapped my head around trying to locate Travis, but instead HE was there, staring at me.

I turned back towards the girls who were now laughing at my plan, all but Trish who looked like she had more questions she wanted to ask.I saw the pain she was in, but it was nothing compared to what I was feeling.Had something gone wrong?Was Flake ok?No. Can’t deal with this right now.

“Trish, honey, I gotta go.”

“Okay, but I’ve gotta talk to you soon.Don’t forget.”

“Never would.Gotta go.

I rushed out of the club, and straight into a cab.His being here couldn’t be a good thing.Had the time come already?Was it finally time for me to go home.